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Sunday, November 20, 2011

It is well known by those who follow me on my personal twitter that I have a deep love for Robin D. Owens's books. If I had to rank my top three favorite authors, it'd probably be Nalini Singh, Robin D. Owens and then Shelly Laurenston. So trust me when I say that I am incapable of giving this book anything below four stars. Because, honestly, it probably deserves three. Maybe even lower.

It hurts me to write that.

I liked the first book, Enchanted No More, I did! This is the feedback I sent to our buyer at the time:

I almost don't want it to be published so that it stays mine forever. I am trying to come up with words to adequately describe it, but I'm failing miserably. It's much better than the Llandra series and reminds me of that feeling I get when I watch the Harry Potter movies or the Dresden Files or Being Human. Like, the magic's really real. I _believe_. So great.

I can even tell you exactly where I was when I started reading Enchanted No More. I was in the horrifically dusty annex, on a lunch break from compiling an inventory of ancient periodicals, huddled over my iPad, eating a Subway's tuna on whole wheat.

Maybe my expectations were too high? I don't know.

In any case, something went horribly awry in Enchanted Again. All I can tell you is that it happened somewhere in the middle of the book and probably involved the hero. I wish I could point to some specific thing and be all 'Oh, if only Owens had fixed that,' but I can't. It was more like a gradual realization that the book was going off the rails. If this had been any other author than Owens, I likely wouldn't have finished it.

If you haven't read Enchanted No More, don't bother with this one because while it's only loosely connected to the first book, the assumption is made you already understand the rules behind this world. I liked the brownies, but the hero came off as kinda child-ish and sometimes I just wanted to grab the heroine by the shoulders & shake her.

I will read the third book when it comes out because it's Robin D. Owens, but I will probably be a little scared. And that makes me sad.